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Self Care Saturday

/ Sloan / 1 Comment

Today I got up at 6:58am. Well, honestly, I hit snooze and was out of bed and putting the kettle on for coffee at about 7:16am. By the time my french press was ready to be plunged I had started making breakfast and was settling on the couch to finish my book before I had to head out at 8:05am to meet my client at the YMCA for our 9am session. I treasure the mornings I’m able to sip coffee with a book–I’ll purposely get up an hour early to be able to do this.

We trained, high fived, and I sent him on his wobbly legs to go on with the rest of his morning. I ran home (literally, ran) and wrapped up my morning with 6 miles under my belt and a shower in my future. I took a long shower, shaved, took my time, put on a face mask, made a smoothie and a bit more coffee. I painted my nails while listening to TED talks and sipping my smoothie.

You guys, then I took a nap, it’s a rare kind of day that I take a nap. I talked on the phone with a friend for over an hour, I read a little bit of my new book and now I’m sitting down to write, eat popcorn and watch a dumb movie. These are the kinds of days that I usually dream of. But then when given the opportunity to have them I sit around feeling like I ‘should‘ be doing something else. I ‘should’ be being productive.

But.

Who says that self care isn’t productive? Who says taking a Saturday Cat Nap isn’t what our bodies need sometimes? Obviously, we can’t live our whole lives like this, we would get nothing done! But having a day to stop, slow down and relax into what you’re craving is sometimes more important than going out and doing things that are “instagram worthy”.

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For realz 

Are you able to slow down and have a Self Care Saturday? Have you always been this way?… This is new for me, any tips!?

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So I did a thing…

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

I apologize for my lack of blogging attention. Life has been INsane and I’m just trying to manage it all right now… good insane, just insane in general. But I wanted to pop on here and see if I could find some support from this community.

A few weeks ago I was working a race expo, (running race, where all the racer go to pickup their packet and get convinced to sign up for other races) yup, convinced to sign up for other races. That is what happened to me… Here’s a quick version of the story:

I went to the Girls on the Run table to talk about volunteer opportunities, and support a friend that was going to sign up to raise $1000 and run the Chicago Marathon to support this amazing program. If you’re interested in what it’s all about click HERE. Anyway, I volunteered for them for YEARS in college, it’s where I met one of my best friends, come to think of it–I got convinced into volunteering too, hmmmm, (ASHLEY!!!) Anyway, ten minutes later I’m picking what sized t-shirt I want to run in and being convinced that raising $1000 AND running a marathon is easy! ‘You have plenty of time, just train hard and ask for support!”

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So. That’s what I’m doing. Along with beginning my marathon training soon, I am asking for your support.  Please consider donating. Every dollar makes a difference. All of the support I raise goes directly to the girls that are unable to pay the full tuition fee for this AMAZING program–with the scholarships that become available because of this fundraising effort EVERY single girl can attend this after school, life changing program.

Click HERE to donate. Feel free to pass my message along to anyone you think would be interested in supporting me and the 1000’s of girls in Chicago that want to be a part of this self-positive, body-positive, confidence building program.

My deepest thanks for whatever you are able to help with. EVERY dollar helps.

Love,

Sloan

 

 

 

 

 

Get Moving!

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

My mornings have changed. The warm weather. The sun up with the crows. People outside my window shouting at each other at 5:30, ya know, things that just make it easier to get up at 6 am. I like it, I enjoy the mornings alone, with my computer or a book but more recently I’ve been talking the time to walk. More or less coming off a running injury I walk/run but I enjoy both equally and try really hard to get a couple miles in before I hop on my bike and head to school.

I have always stated that morning time is my most productive time. Right now it’s 6:49 am and I have cooked breakfast, made coffee, cleaned the kitchen, read up on a few articles and will head out for a walk as soon as I finish typing this though. Some wouldn’t consider ‘a walk’ productive. But for me it’s my morning meditation, it gives me a head start on my goal of 10,000 steps for the day (though when I walk or run I tend to get closer to 14,000!) I kick my metabolism up right away. I clear my mind and set an intention. Sometimes I listen to a podcast to get ideas to be more productive through out the ENTIRE day–I tend to hit a slump around 3:30 and just want to lounge around after that.

So I walk. And I think. And I shut the brain off. And I observe–lord knows there’s a lot to observe in Humboldt Park at 7 in the morning.

How do you start your day? What can you do before life gets to busy to get moving and get yourself closer to those 10,000 steps? It’s recommended that each adult gets at least 30 minutes of activity a day, which is easy for some of us and a challenge for other–how can we get closer to achieving that minimum and maybe going beyond it? (Some people post on social media to get some motivation.. hence this blog post, I was feeling lazy but now I feel motivated!)

I’ll post a picture from my walk this morning, check it out on InstaGram @sloanderr and let me know what you think. #thesolesearch #goodmorning